Shuttles or bird structures for badminton



April 5, 1958 H. SCHOBERL 2,830,817

SHUTTLES OR BIRD STRUCTURES FOR BADMINTON Filed Sept. 14, 1954 I N UE/V rag;

Hg/eszkrfcl/imz,

United States Patent SHUTTLES OR BIRD STRUCTURES FOR BADMINTON Herbert Schiiherl, Ulm (Danube), Germany, assignor to Sportex G. m. b. H., Ulm (Danube), Germany Application September 14, 1954, Serial No. 455,917 Claims priority, application Germany February 16, 1954 Claims. (Cl. 273-406) This invention relates to badminton shuttles or bird structures, and more particularly to shuttle structures having a conical skirt made of one or more layers of suitable resinous or like synthetic. plastic material.

In shuttles equipped with natural feathers, the feather quills or ribs extend approximately along the surface of the conical skirt, While feather blades of the feathers overlap each other in shingle-like or roof-shaped fashion. The feathers are fixed to and supported by a cap or like hollow body which is made from cork or like material.

It has already been known to manufacture shuttles which employ instead of natural feathers a skirt or shell of synthetic plastic material. The feather quills in such known shuttles are imitated by ribs which extend along the skirt.

Due to the shingle-shaped overlap arrangement of the feathers, shuttles having natural feathers receive a rotative twist or spin during their flight in the air. According to sport regulations only shuttles may be employed which comply with this requirement.

Twist or spin effect during flight is also of technical significance during play. The spin consumes a great deal of flight energy, so that even if the shuttle is strongly hit, it cannot fly too far, which is desirable, as the play cour or field is rather limited.

Besides this, it is desirable that the delicate shuttle should fall to the ground very gently, so that it will not be damaged.

In shuttles made from artificial plastic sheet material, it was heretofore not possible to produce such spin or twist effect of predetermined degree. Attempts heretofore made to solve this problem neither met with the approval of sport regulations nor did they produce a sufficiently slow rotative motion for all practical purposes.

The present invention overcomes these and other disadvantages and has as one of its objects to provide means ensuring long wear, perfect feel and bounce and better control of impact of the shuttle in flight and on the court.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide means facilitating hitting of the shuttle from every angle during play and without damaging the otherwise very delicate shuttle.

Yet a further object of the present invention is to provide means afiording a shuttle structure having guide faces for producing a suitable spin, said guide faces being disposed along the outer surface of the conical shell or skirt of the shuttle, these guide faces being connected to the skirt only along a longitudinal edge or rib.

Still another object ofthe invention isto provide means contributing to a spin or twist of the shuttle by means of specially designed guide faces whose action may be compared with blades or paddles of a turbine imparting to the shuttle a brisk spin.

As in most ball or shuttle constructions heretofore known, the shuttle after impact is rather forcefully turned around, so that same flies through the air with its cap first and ahead of the cone-shaped skirt or vane. In this kind of initial flight and while the shuttle then passes along its entire course the shuttle will be rotated due to relative movement between the shuttle and the air and the effect of the latter on the driving blade-like shuttle guide faces.

It has already been tried to die cast the skirt or vane together with the cap as a single piece or to integrally produce such skirt together with longitudinal quill-shaped ribs and to connect the same thereafter to a base or cap. These manufacturing steps are readily applicable to the shuttle structure made in accordance with the invention.

It has been found that the guide facesmay be die cast on closed vane parts. However, it has been found that simplified production may be had if the guide faces correspond to cut-out sections provided in the vane or skirt.

In such case, it was found that the parts forming the guide faces may be formed along the surface of the skirt in desired correct position through die casting.

According to the invention it is also possible to provide cut-outs in a solid, imperforate skirt and afterwards to bend or otherwise bring such cut-outs into desired angular positions relative to the conical skirt surface.

In embodiments of the inventionin which individual or all guide faces correspond to cut-outs in the shell, it is also possible to bend the cut-outs inwardly rather than outwardly from the surface of said shell.

These different modes of embodiment of the invention may even be combined -so that shuttle forms are obtained which are characterized by guide face portions extending partly toward the inside, as well as toward the outside of the shuttle shell or skirt.

The invention further contemplates location of these guide faces and'shaping thereof so that a left spin or a right spin, as desired, may be imparted to the shuttle. Thus, it is a very important object of the present invention to provide means affording various changes in the configuration and arrangement of those parts of the shuttle which constitute guide faces therefor in order to meet any possible desired requirements and variations for the game of badminton.

These and other objects of the invention will become further apparent from the following detailed description, reference being made to the accompanying drawing, showing preferred embodiments of the invention.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 shows a shuttle partly in section and partly in elevation, and embodying the invention.

- Figs. 2 to 5 show fragmentary views of different executions of the invention.

Fig. 6 shows in section and schematically a detail of a the connection of the vane or skirt with the cap of the shuttle made according to the invention.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, there is shown in Fig. 1 a shuttle for use in the game of badminton provided with a skirt or vane 1 together with a cap 2, both made from resinous or other suitable synthetic plastic material and preferably die cast from polyethylene, polystyrene, butadiene polymers and like syn: thetic, somewhat elastic rubber-like, thermo-plastic substances.

The skirt 1 has substantially the formation of a conventional shuttle skirt, presenting an upwardly flaring or diverging cone-shaped surface, while the cap 2 is semispherical in shape and has a cylindrical col-lar at the junction between the skirt and the cap body. At the upper end the cone-shaped skirt or shell 1 has a ring-shaped edge or rim 3. Directly from the upper end of cap 2 (Fig. 1) extend tapering ribs 4 reaching to the rim 3 which is scalloped or arc-shaped at 5 intermediate the respective terminal points of the ribs 4.

According to Fig. 1, which illustrates a shuttle with various combined improvements incorporated therein, in

the first two sections of the skirt or shell at the left hand of Fig. 1, there are shown between ribs 4 of the coneshaped skirt outwardly extending portions or flaps 6 to thereby provide outwardly directed guide blades -or;faces. These flaps, and cutouts 7 corresponding thereto, extend downwardly from the upper part to a location somewhat below the middle of the skirt. In the lower part of the shell or skirt and positioned adjacent cap 2 are provided cut-outs 8. The edges of the cut-outs 7 and 8 and consequently also the edges of the guide'fiaps 6 joining the latter to the shell extend substantially parallel to the aforesaid ribs. The cut-outs and the guide flaps are consequently greater in width at their outermost ends closest to the upper shell part than at their lowermost ends closest to the cap.

In the third section seen from the left of the shell of Fig. 1 there is shown amodified structure of the guide flaps. Guide flap 7' is cut out of the upper part of the shell, leaving an opening 9 of corresponding size. A similar guide flap 8 aligned with but smaller than guide flap 7 is disposed at the lower part of the shell. The guide flaps 7' and 8' are further provided with perforations or openings 27 and 27', respectively, which may have the form of small rectangles, the long edges of which extend substantially parallel to the flap edges.

Fig. 1 further shows another flap structure in the central field of the skirt. This field is approximately divided in half at its outer or upper part by ribs or webs 4'. At the area of the left of rib 4 there is provided a cut-out 7" in front of which is positioned a struck or otherwise obtained flap 6 which corresponds to but is smaller than the above described flaps 6. The flap 6' is bent outwardly away from the remainder of the shell and connected to the latter only along its left hand edge 7a.

On the right of rib 4 there is further provided a cutout 10 similar to the cut-out 7 but devoid of any guide flaps.

In the lower part of the middle section of the shell there is only a single cut-out 8 cooperating with a flap 8" similar to flap 8 but different from the latter in that it lacks perforations or openings 27. The remaining shell sections or fields situated to the right of the central field have flaps 6', ribs 4' and cut-outs 10 in their upper parts, while in their lower parts only cut-outs 8 without guide flaps are provided.

Adjacent the upper edge of cap 2 there is provided on the outside of the cap a circumferential groove 11. Over cap 2, which is integral with the skirt 1 and made from suitable plastic material as above mentioned, a cover 12 made of rubber may be seated. This cover has a welt 13 on its upper end which is elastically expanded when said rubber cover 12 is fitted over the cap 2 and .then snaps into the groove 11 due to its elastic force, thus maintaining rubber cover 12 in position on cap 2.

According to the embodiment disclosed in Fig. 2, there is provided between the ribs 4 a guide flap 14 extending substantially along the entire height of the shell from cap 2 to the uppermost rim zone 3, guide flap 14 being bent outwardly from the shell or skirt and leaving a substantially coextensive cut-out 15. This embodiment may also be executed in a modified manner as hereinabove set forth in regard to the middle section of the skirt shown in Fig. l, by dividing the field with a middle rib similar to 4, thus obtaining a flap approximately half as wide as that illustrated in Fig. 2.

According to the embodiment shown in Fig. 3, there are provided three approximately equally high, outwardly bent guide flaps 15, 16, and 17 which are positioned substantially along the entire length or the field bounded :by longitudinal ribs 4. Also in this particular example, similar to the central field of the skirt 'as seen in Fig. l, a rib or web 4' may be provided to divide the field in half, thus enabling flaps to be disposed only .in half of said field.

Still another modification is apparent when, for instance, only the upper guide flap extends over half of the field, while flaps 16 and--17, as shown in Fig. 3, still extend across the entire width of the field.

In the embodiment disclosed in Fig. 4 there are shown guide flaps 18, 19 which do not have a trapezoidal form, but are rather of triangular configuration. Consequently, the flap 18 corresponds to cut-out 18' and the flap 19 to cut-out 19'. The flaps 18 and 19 are bent outwardly with respect to the surface of the skirt or v-ane 1.

According to Fig. 4, however, whereas the straight left edge of flap 19, by means of which the latter is connected with the skirt, extends substantially parallel to the adjacent rib 4, the connecting edge of flap 18 is inclined with respect to said rib and said edge of flap 19. The triangular flaps may also extend, respectively, instead of over only half of the height of the skirt, over the entire height of the skirt or shell.

According to the embodiment of Fig. 5, instead of triangular guide flaps 18 and 19 substantially rectangular flaps 20 and 21 are provided, whose cut-outs 20' and 21' correspond in size to fiaps 20 and 21.

The configuration and the disposition of guide flaps for producing the spin or twist do not require that the vane or skirt 1, as shown in Fig. 1, be integral with cap 2. The vane may also be formed as a separate part, which is in any suitable manner combined with the cap and connected thereto. According to the embodiment seen in Fig. 6, there are provided in the lower part of the vane or skirt 1 adjacent the cap 22 warts or projections 24 fitting into recesses 23 of the cap, said cap being made of cork, for example, and being shaped to have sufiicient elastic force to hold the skirt and cap rather firmly together.

It can thus be seen that there has been provided, according to the invention, a bird or shuttle for the game of badminton which is characterized by a cap member, a cone-shaped shell or vane body integrally united with said cap member, if desired, a protective rubber cover over said cap member, and a plurality of fiap elements struck out of or otherwise formed from the material of said shell body and bent or displaced out of the plane or surface thereof to form guide flaps or blades for imparting a spin or twist to said shuttle during flight.

Various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention and it is intended that such obvious changes and modifications be embraced by the annexed claims.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent, is:

1. In a shuttlecock for the game of badminton; a shell. body conical in shape and terminating in a reduced end and an enlarged end, a plurality of ribs extending from adjacent said reduced end toward said enlarged end, each rib decreasing in thickness toward said enlarged end of said shell body, adjacent ribs defining therebctween shell sections, and at least one inclined guide flap means struck out of the shell body material of each section and connected to the latter along a joining edge common to said guide flap means and said shell body, said edge extending lengthwise of said shell body and spaced from said adjacent ribs and having opposite ends spaced, respectively, from said reduced end and said enlarged end of said shell body, said guide flap means being planar and being arranged to produce a twisting movement of said shuttlecock when the latter travels through the air.

2. In a shuttlecock according to claim 1, said joining edge extending substantially parallel to an adjacent rib of said shell body.

3. In a shuttlecock according to claim 1, said joining edge extending angularly to an adjacent rib of said shell body. a

4. In a shuttlecock for the game of badminton; a shell body conical in shape and terminating in a reduced end and in an enlarged end, a plurality of ribs extending from adjacent said reduced end toward said enlarged end and decreasing in thickness toward said enlarged end of said shell body, adjacent ribs defining therebetween substantially planar shell sections, and at least one guide flap means struck out of the shell body material of each section and connected to the latter along a joining edge common to said guide flap means and said shell body, said edge extending lengthwise of said shell body and lying parallel to and spaced from adjacent ribs, said edge having opposite ends spaced, respectively, from said reduced end and said enlarged end of said shell body, said guide flap means providing substantially planar surfaces and being arranged to provide a twisting movement of said shuttlecock when the latter travels through the air, the surfaces of said guide flap means forming an angle to the remainder of the respective shell body sections.

5. In a shuttlecock according to claim 4; at least some of said flap means being disposed successively Within the confines of a respective shell body section.

6. In a shuttlecock according to claim 4; wherein at least one of said flap means is provided with perforations.

7. In a shuttlecock according to claim 4; wherein at least one of said flap means consists of upper and lower flap portions, said upper and lower flap portions being spaced from one another and located, respectively, adjacent said enlarged end and said reduced end of said shell body.

8. In a shuttlecock according to claim 4; wherein at least one of said flap means extends approximately over the entire height of said shell body from short of said reduced end to short of said enlarged end.

9. In a shuttlecock according to claim 4; wherein at least some of said flap means are triangular in shape, the remainder of said flap means being polygonal-shaped.

10. In a shuttlecock according to claim 4; wherein at least some of said flap means are provided with perforations, the perforations of said flap means adjacent the enlarged end of said shell body being greater in number than the remaining perforations close to said reduced end of said shell body.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,163,236 Collier June 20, 1939 2,212,079 Saunders Aug. 20, 1940 2,218,593 Ushakolf Oct. 22, 1940 2,538,348 Amphlett Jan. 16, 1951 2,626,805 Carlton Jan. 27, 1953 2,626,806 Carlton Jan. 27, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 145,161 Sweden May 4, 1954 

